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Yoko Kusunoki
Yoko Kusunoki (''楠葉子,Kusunoki Yoko) is a Tokubetsu Jounin-level shinobi from Konohagakure and an active member of the Konoha Barrier Team. Background Yoko was born as the eldest child of Takeo and Kameyo Kusunoki, three years before her younger brother Yū. Even in her youth, she expressed great enthusiasm in becoming a ninja and often play-fought other children in wrestling and stick-fights, while her gentle-natured brother supported her from the sidelines. For the first few years of her life, Yoko was a very aggressive child and mindless when it came to her roughness, but Yoko's attitude towards her reckless behaviour changed dramatically when she and Yū were playing in the forest one day, where Yū suffered from a fall down an incline and badly broke his leg. This fall rendered him handicapped for life, his leg being always bandaged and giving him a limp. Hating how helpless she was towards her beloved brother's injury, Yoko became extremely protective and regularly expressed that she would only fight for Yū's behalf, making the two inseparable since childhood. When Yoko enrolled into the academy at the age of 6, her grandfather, Kokushi Kusunoki, immediately immersed himself in her training and tutored her in her studies. Both Yoko and her grandfather appeared to be very close, as they would spend any time Yoko wasn’t at school on the training grounds to practice and refine her skills, and it wasn't long before her grandfather became a huge influence on her. Under his training, Yoko’s speed and weaponry skills increased exponentially, as he also pushed her to become much more self-sufficient and independent as she continued to grow. This was the only period of time where Yoko and Yū seemed to grow distant, but Yoko would often sneak out of her home with Yū to show him how much she improved, hiding out underneath the trees to stargaze or to spar with him. After she graduated from the academy at age 12, Yoko was placed on a 3-man squad with her classmates Misao Kahaya and Sugita Otake, with Keiki Miyazaki as their Jounin instructor. Under Keiki’s guidance, Yoko’s Kenjutsu abilities greatly improved as she began working with her specialty weapons, her Twin Chakrams, while her grandfather tutored her in her ninjutsu and nature transformation skills. As Team Keiki, Yoko and her teammates trained and performed low ranking missions as Genin for three years until they were promoted to Chuunin at the age of 15. Because of Keiki’s efforts and guidance, Yoko excelled in Kenjutsu and was promoted to Special Jounin rank at 17 years, joining the Interception Division at that time as well. Yoko stayed at this rank until her retirement. Personality Outwardly, Yoko appears to be passive and restrained due to her self-repressive trait, as well as overbearing and nosy. She often doesn't heed other people's warnings too seriously and inserts herself in other people's affairs, often letting curiosity get the better of her, which usually leads her into complicated or even dangerous situations. However, Yoko is very protective and overly empathetic, hiding her sentimental nature and her quick emotional attachment to others. She greatly desires to protect those around her, even if she doesn't express so outwardly, following her grandfather's motto ''"We strong must protect the weak". Only those who are close to her know of this sensitive personality. However, despite Yoko's protective and enterprise nature, her self-centered attitude tends to make her feel as though she is giving more than she is getting back, stuck with no one to rely on, and can make her feel emotionally distant from others. She is quick to take offense and has a short temper, but is reasonably patient but firm when she feels the need to stand up against someone. When angered, she speaks very venomously and crudely, often saying things that she doesn't necessarily mean. Yoko finds herself to be zealous and ambitious, able to see the beauty in everything. She sees herself as someone who is still naive towards many things, believing that life has more to offer her than what she has experienced thus far. Because of this, Yoko's strongest trait is her unyielding attitude towards any obstacle, always standing firm with her goals and ideas and often coming across as extremely stubborn, as she doesn't want to miss any opportunity that may present itself. She's a clever girl whose jokes show intelligence, being the type of person who can find subtle humour in a situation and tease it to the surface without it coming off as distasteful, and is very supportive and maternal to those younger than her. She is often seen to be the "older sister" type, as she enjoys taking time to treat others to dinner while they confide to her. Appearance Yoko has extremely thick, dark green hair that freely falls to her waist, with center-parted bangs that match the length of her hair. When on missions, Yoko ties her hair into a braid and drapes it over her shoulder, tying it with a long red band. Her jaw is round with a blunted chin, her eyes large and softly curved, the irises a deep amethyst hue with large, centered black pupils. Above her eyes are thin, flat eyebrows that increase the vastness to her already large forehead. The rest of her features contain a long, deeply curved nose centered between high cheekbones and thin lips, which she paints with a subtle rosy hue. Underneath her right eye is a small black beauty mark. As a genin, Yoko wore a traditional tan wrap-shirt with loose, elbow-length sleeves and a red yukata-styled dress underneath. Her tan over shirt was tucked into her waist-high black skirt, which fell to mid-thigh, just short enough to reveal the fringe of the red yukata underneath. Yoko also wore grey stockings and black traditional shinobi sandals, attaching three scrolls onto her back for missions. When she becomes a member of the Interception Division, Yoko wears the standard Konoha flak jacket over a long-sleeved, high-collared shirt with a light purple trim as her uniform. She also wears navy capris pants that are bandaged to her calves, ending just before her black, open-toed boots. When on duty or missions, she ties her Konohagakure headband over her forehead and wears a matching belt for additional pouches or scrolls. In leisure, Yoko wears an alteration of her Interception Division uniform, minus her headband and flak jacket, and is what she is most often seen in. Without her flak jacket covering it, her shirt is revealed to be a long-sleeved turtle-necked shirt with a triangular slit over her chest, outlined by a black fringe, with a light purple trim on her sleeves. A zipper runs down the middle of the shirt, to where there is a frontal slit at her hips. She wears a pink belt around her waist, attaching a few pouches containing her wallet and scrolls, with her usual blue capris pants with her holister fastened on her right thigh. She also continues to wear her open-toed boots and the bandages at her pant's trim, though varies leaving her hair braided or unbound. Abilities Yoko is a kunoichi who has an affinity towards earth release and has mild skills in fire release as a supplementary nature. She is especially adept at ninjutsu and kenjutsu, and mostly relies on these skills in battle. However, because training underneath her grandfather and sensei were centered around those two skills, her strategic and genjutsu skills have suffered. Yoko also isn't strong physically, but rather relies on her speed to deliver critical blows, which also means she cannot take a hit well (hense her low stamina scoring). She tends to stick with what she knows, so after her promotion to Tokubetsu Jounin rank, her skills have hardly improved. Chakrams Yoko prodominantly fights with her chakrams, so she uses her taijutsu to support her kenjutsu skills. Her chakrams can be used in both short-ranged and long-ranged battles if she throws the blades. In order to not lose her weapons in the middle of a fight, Yoko attaches retractable ninja wires to the hilts so that she can pull them back into her hands after she throws them. In Part II, Yoko enhances these chakrams by reforming them to be made of a specialty metal that reacts to the ninja's chakra nature, which she uses to utilize her fire techniques. Kekkei Genkai Yoko inheirited her affinity for the earth nature through her parents, which is a dominant nature in the Kusunoki clan. Combining earth with fire release enables her to use her clan's bloodline limit, Molten Release (''炙る遁, Aburuton). In short, Yoko's Molten Release enables her to use fire techniques to ablate the earth's surface to such a degree that it becomes liquified, in which she can control via her earth affinity. This technique is considered to be a distant variation of the Lava Release techniques used by Mei Terumi and Kurotsuchi. Status ''Note: I added a "Kenjutsu" category, so her stats will appear higher than her actual skill. Part I Pre-Shippuden Filler Arcs During this time, Yoko begins visiting the academy occasionally, since special lectures by more experienced shinobi are sometimes held in the classes. Realizing her love for teaching, Yoko spends a lot of time at the academy, though still works in the Interception Division before Naruto Uzumaki leaves the village to train with Jiraiya. While being a first-response shinobi for the village, she begins teaching part-time at the academy; specifically, she teaches how to weild weapons and strategy studies to the students, as well as staging preperations for the Chūnin exams. Part II Shinobi World War Arc Yoko participates in the Fourth Shinobi World War and is placed in the First Division for her use of her chakrams. She helps her division fight off the White Zetsu Army and helps immobize ninja who were resurrected so that they can be sealed. Quotes *''(To Kameyo about Yū.) "The fierceness of jealousy is not a fire I want to fan." *(To''' 'Yū.) "''I always wind up in too deep; even though my hands are clean, they feel bloody."' *(To Naruto about Yū.) "A kind soul or not, a gentle blade can still cut deeply." *(To Keiki.) "I guess you deserve a 'thank you' this time." *(To Kokushi.) "Is that supposed to scare me? You'll have to try harder than that! Even a child wouldn't be fooled by your tricks!" *(To Danzo.)'' "Women don't like those who are too persistent." *''(To Itachi about Yū.) "Justice is what I want for him, and I will not rest until I have it." Trivia * Yoko's name means "''leaf child". * Yoko trusts and depends on her younger brother, Yū, more than anyone else. * Yoko's favourite pastimes are traveling (especially when visiting yatai) and playing the sanshin. * Yoko's hobby is collecting various charms. * Her favourite foods are soba, youshoku, and any other food found at a stand. * Yoko wished to fight her father, Takeo Kusunoki. * Yoko is afraid of the thought of death for her or her loved ones, while her physical fears are of bugs and needles. * Yoko has a very bad sense of direction, often getting lost despite having a compass and map in her pouch at all times. * Yoko's favourite philosophy is "Sonae areba urei nashi."'' If you are prepared, there won't be any sorrow.'' Reference All images are original drawings from my deviantART. All information and articles for anything pertaining to the Naruto series was found on Narutopedia. Additional information was researched and found on wikipedia. Category:Original Character Category:Female Category:Kekkei Genkai Category:OC Art Category:Konohagakure Category:FINAL